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Bodog .5/1 Hero: 55Villian: 109Hero in co dealt: a :club: k :D preflop: 3 folds, mp2 calls, mp3 raises to 5, Hero ????Only a few hands at the table...i was bored and got the free bodog money so i was just screwin around at the table...wasnt sure what i shoulda done

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Bodog .5/1  Hero: 55Villian: 109Hero in co dealt: a :club: k :D  preflop:  3 folds, mp2 calls, mp3 raises to 5, Hero ????Only a few hands at the table...i was bored and got the free bodog money so i was just screwin around at the table...wasnt sure what i shoulda done
I'm just gonna assume 5's the standard raise at tables like this. Hero calls. You're likely gonna get callers behind, and I don't want to raise, just to get re-raised and have to pitch it. AK is a nice hand if you can hit two pair, flush draw, straight draw, etc. I look to play it, theoretically, very similarly to J10 suited. A drawing hand, and nothing more. When I stopped overplaying AK I started making more money.
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You're likely gonna get callers behind, and I don't want to raise, just to get re-raised and have to pitch it.  AK is a nice hand if you can hit two pair, flush draw, straight draw, etc.  I look to play it, theoretically, very similarly to J10 suited. A drawing hand, and nothing more.  When I stopped overplaying AK I started making more money.
I think this a weak approach to playing AK at this limit. I would argue that AK has extra value over j10 from the propensity of other players to overplay A10-Q when an ace hits. As long as your post flop ability allows you to feel when you are behind when you hit an ace and when you are ahead when u hit an ace, then I believe AK should be played fast just as any high PP.I likely raise/(call or fold) this preflop. You have position and can represent a big hand. villain will need a big hand to play back at your or try to take the pot on the flop since your the preflop raiser. A raise from this late can mean a number of hands from Ak- A10. mid PP or even suited connectors.
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You're likely gonna get callers behind, and I don't want to raise, just to get re-raised and have to pitch it.  AK is a nice hand if you can hit two pair, flush draw, straight draw, etc.  I look to play it, theoretically, very similarly to J10 suited. A drawing hand, and nothing more.  When I stopped overplaying AK I started making more money.
I think this a weak approach to playing AK at this limit. I would argue that AK has extra value over j10 from the propensity of other players to overplay A10-Q when an ace hits. As long as your post flop ability allows you to feel when you are behind when you hit an ace and when you are ahead when u hit an ace, then I believe AK should be played fast just as any high PP.I likely raise/(call or fold) this preflop. You have position and can represent a big hand. villain will need a big hand to play back at your or try to take the pot on the flop since your the preflop raiser. A raise from this late can mean a number of hands from Ak- A10. mid PP or even suited connectors.
I guess I'm not familiar with .5/1 enough to make this raise/give this advice. So, I guess, it'd help me if you guys could tell me what kind of hand might call our theoretical re-raise. If we make it 15, what hands are calling that we beat? AQ, AJ, KQ still call at this level a great deal? A10 even? Like I said, I have no clue..so let me know.
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You're likely gonna get callers behind, and I don't want to raise, just to get re-raised and have to pitch it.  AK is a nice hand if you can hit two pair, flush draw, straight draw, etc.  I look to play it, theoretically, very similarly to J10 suited. A drawing hand, and nothing more.  When I stopped overplaying AK I started making more money.
I think this a weak approach to playing AK at this limit. I would argue that AK has extra value over j10 from the propensity of other players to overplay A10-Q when an ace hits. As long as your post flop ability allows you to feel when you are behind when you hit an ace and when you are ahead when u hit an ace, then I believe AK should be played fast just as any high PP.I likely raise/(call or fold) this preflop. You have position and can represent a big hand. villain will need a big hand to play back at your or try to take the pot on the flop since your the preflop raiser. A raise from this late can mean a number of hands from Ak- A10. mid PP or even suited connectors.
I guess I'm not familiar with .5/1 enough to make this raise/give this advice. So, I guess, it'd help me if you guys could tell me what kind of hand might call our theoretical re-raise. If we make it 15, what hands are calling that we beat? AQ, AJ, KQ still call at this level a great deal? A10 even? Like I said, I have no clue..so let me know.
At these limits.. anything... I was called with K9 yesterday in a nearly identical situation. You will find AQ and occasional KQ and up doing this.
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Haven't read replies.Assuming the following conditions are true:a) Villain is unknownb) You have positionc) You and Villain both have more than 40 big blindsd) You are playing a cash gameI strongly believe that calling is better than re-raising.If you re-raise, you take the lead from him with an unmade hand and still have to improve on the flop to bet confidently.AK, suited or offsuit, is a great one pair hand, because either pair it makes is automatically top pair top kicker. You are looking for an A-x-x flop or a K-x-x flop, and by calling preflop...a) Villain has the lead, and if HE also has one pair, he's automatically going to overvalue the strength of his kicker.b) If you put him on overcards, and the board bricks out under 9, you have the best hand AND can put a lot of heat on him by raising a continuation betThe biggest disadvantage to calling preflop is if the board flops two broadway cards that pairs you. Then, you still need to raise the flop but it's more likely you aren't good, as compared to A-x-x or K-x-x.

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Having read replies...Consider this:I think the most important reason to open-raise AK preflop in a cash game is to KEEP from getting reverse-dominated. If the flop is K-7-2, you really don't want BB to have checked K7.He's already done that for us with a pot raise.By re-raising:a) You open yourself up to re-re-raising, which further commits you to the pot, AND implies you're already behind. You'd have to fold to a bet on a missed flop, and if you pair over his pair, there's less of a chance he'll get creative OOP.b) It makes the pot bigger relative to the stacks... which lessens your positional advantage, because he's more likely to play aggressively c) Good players will NEVER overplay AJ on an A-x-x flop. Good players are scared witless OOP with AJ making one pair.d) You declare the strength of your hand, which isn't necessary at this point and will only get you paid less when you hit.To get paid here, we need 1 slightly-better-pair or a nut flush. Both of those can be accomplished by calling.

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Having read replies...Consider this:I think the most important reason to open-raise AK preflop in a cash game is to KEEP from getting reverse-dominated.  If the flop is K-7-2, you really don't want BB to have checked K7.He's already done that for us with a pot raise.By re-raising:a) You open yourself up to re-re-raising, which further commits you to the pot, AND implies you're already behind.  You'd have to fold to a bet on a missed flop, and if you pair over his pair, there's less of a chance he'll get creative OOP.B) It makes the pot bigger relative to the stacks... which lessens your positional advantage, because he's more likely to play aggressively  c) Good players will NEVER overplay AJ on an A-x-x flop.  Good players are scared witless OOP with AJ making one pair.d) You declare the strength of your hand, which isn't necessary at this point and will only get you paid less when you hit.To get paid here, we need 1 slightly-better-pair or a nut flush.  Both of those can be accomplished by calling.
this is a really good response. it made me confident that raising acutally isnt such a good play.
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If you reraise to 15 and get called, unless the person sucks sooooooooooooooooooooo bad they aren't worth talking about, they other player has either AA, KK, QQ, or if they really really suck JJ. At .50-1 you're usually going to only get called on the reraise by a hand that at the absolute best for you is a slight favorite over your AK.And I have a ton of experience at .50-1.I'm not saying raising to 15 is bad, but if you get played with here I'm attempting to play as small a pot as possible after the flop unless I ht a monster.Calling and folding on this 5 dollar raise work too.

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I still like raising hereto the point AK is a drawing hand: Yes and it's nice to be able to take down a pot with a drawing hand before we get there which we may do preflop here. I'm comfortable with folding to another raise if that's what happens. To bet a rag flop if I am called: I do not need to improve on most boards if I've reraised preflop. If we just call and go UI, any continuation bet takes us off the hand unless we want to get real creative.As far as what's this guy going to call with... well if we get called, we're either way behind or a slight underdog and some times ahead. BUT, How many hands are raising here that aren't calling and we get to pick up the pot right away? Also, I see mid pairs calling this only playing for set value (ignoring the fact that raises are taking away their implied odds of catching a set). I guess the thing I'm trying to get my head around here is why we don't think that taking the lead here is good and why we are worried about really strong hands when a raise from this position doesn't necessarily denoted tremendous strength.

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I still like raising hereto the point AK is a drawing hand: Yes and it's nice to be able to take down a pot with a drawing hand before we get there which we may do preflop here. I'm comfortable with folding to another raise if that's what happens. To bet a rag flop if I am called: I do not need to improve on most boards if I've reraised preflop. If we just call and go UI, any continuation bet takes us off the hand unless we want to get real creative.As far as what's this guy going to call with... well if we get called, we're either way behind or a slight underdog and some times ahead. BUT, How many hands are raising here that aren't calling and we get to pick up the pot right away? Also, I see mid pairs calling this only playing for set value (ignoring the fact that raises are taking away their implied odds of catching a set). I guess the thing I'm trying to get my head around here is why we don't think that taking the lead here is good and why we are worried about really strong hands when a raise from this position doesn't necessarily denoted tremendous strength.
Im with you Scott on this one. Reraise it right back. We are in position, we have one of the best hands and it is .5/1 . Any pair other than KK/AA it is basically a coin flip and all other hands we are way ahead of. If flop comes rags we have position and can evaluate, and if it comes with an A or K we are pretty happy.
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Im with you Scott on this one. Reraise it right back. We are in position, we have one of the best hands and it is .5/1 . Any pair other than KK/AA it is basically a coin flip and all other hands we are way ahead of. If flop comes rags we have position and can evaluate, and if it comes with an A or K we are pretty happy.
I'm not saying I'm right. I was just suprised to see that most people were in favor of calling. TJ and DrawinDead, who I think are very good both believed that calling was the right move, so I'm trying to understand why.
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Im with you Scott on this one. Reraise it right back. We are in position, we have one of the best hands and it is .5/1 . Any pair other than KK/AA it is basically a coin flip and all other hands we are way ahead of. If flop comes rags we have position and can evaluate, and if it comes with an A or K we are pretty happy.
I'm not saying I'm right. I was just suprised to see that most people were in favor of calling. TJ and DrawinDead, who I think are very good both believed that calling was the right move, so I'm trying to understand why.
I never meant any disrespect from Dead or TJ but I believe what you said was correct and I put my reasons. I would also like to hear the explaination as to why they feel that calling is correct. I am here to learn and share knowledge as much as anyone. So I apologize if I offended somewhere.
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glad i wasnt the only one who was a little confused...being short stacked i think makes this tougher since i think you want to win pots uncontested...but i did choose to just callI take a different approach to nl being that i am also a limit player....ak in limit is a huge hand and its an easy reraise...in nl aks is a drawing hand to start with and so i dont like to get aggressive with it since with my stack size id almost have had to call a reraise.

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You definitely have to reraise here. The people who say that you just call a mid-to-late position raise with A-K are wrong. The reason is that if you only reraise with pocket pairs, you're opponents will pick up on that, and every time that you reraise they'll know what you have. That way, when the flop comes something like A-6-4, they can basically take the pot away from you every time knowing that there are only 3 combinatios of pocket aces that are likely to beat them. Also, if you reraise and get called by something like AJ, AQ, or KQ and you both hit top pair, there's no way in hell that you don't get called for the remainder of your short stack. That's basically money in the bank at that point.The exact raise is a little tricky given your stack size however. Normally, I'd go to 20 and give myself a chance to both win the pot right away, and still be able to scare my opponents on a rag flop, but there's not much implied threat with only $35 or so remaining. I'd probably say reraise to $15 here.One more thing for the people that don't like reraising AK here, what are you scared of? If we're not up against AA or KK (which isn't all that likely), we've got an ideal situation. If we hit our ace along with someone else, they're going to put us on a pocket pair and pay us off. If rags come and our opponent's on high cards, we'll take the pot down on the flop. Finally, if rags come and our opponent has a PP, he will still be scared, and likely just call our flop bet and then give us a free card on the turn to our six outer.

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You definitely have to reraise here. The people who say that you just call a mid-to-late position raise with A-K are wrong. The reason is that if you only reraise with pocket pairs, you're opponents will pick up on that, and every time that you reraise they'll know what you have. That way, when the flop comes something like A-6-4, they can basically take the pot away from you every time knowing that there are only 3 combinatios of pocket aces that are likely to beat them. Also, if you reraise and get called by something like AJ, AQ, or KQ and you both hit top pair, there's no way in hell that you don't get called for the remainder of your short stack. That's basically money in the bank at that point.The exact raise is a little tricky given your stack size however. Normally, I'd go to 20 and give myself a chance to both win the pot right away, and still be able to scare my opponents on a rag flop, but there's not much implied threat with only $35 or so remaining. I'd probably say reraise to $15 here.One more thing for the people that don't like reraising AK here, what are you scared of? If we're not up against AA or KK (which isn't all that likely), we've got an ideal situation. If we hit our ace along with someone else, they're going to put us on a pocket pair and pay us off. If rags come and our opponent's on high cards, we'll take the pot down on the flop. Finally, if rags come and our opponent has a PP, he will still be scared, and likely just call our flop bet and then give us a free card on the turn to our six outer.
Anyone who raises 5 pre with less than AA, KK, QQ, JJ, Ak, or at worst AQ just sucks...and if they raise with less than this and bet on the flop if an AK isn't improved its impossible to take the hand away from them unless you have huge balls.Folding AK isn't a bad play....neither is calling or raising.Depends on your style, who you are playing against, etc.There are better places to get your money in than facing a very large rais preflop with AK.
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Im with you Scott on this one.  Reraise it right back.  We are in position, we have one of the best hands and it is .5/1 .   Any pair other than KK/AA it is basically a coin flip and all other hands we are way ahead of.  If flop comes rags we have position and can evaluate, and if it comes with an A or K we are pretty happy.
I'm not saying I'm right. I was just suprised to see that most people were in favor of calling. TJ and DrawinDead, who I think are very good both believed that calling was the right move, so I'm trying to understand why.
Here's why I call, not speaking for TJ, mind you.Because If I raise to 15, let's say. Who's gonna call? KQ? AJ? KJ? I'm not familiar enough with these stakes to say for sure, but I can't imagine it'd be a hand that we have just dominated.More than likely some middle pocket pair.So, let's say we raise and get it heads up.Flop comes 8 9 T, rainbow.Well, now what's our play? We're all but drawing dead to 88, 99 and TT. If some jackalope called us with QJ we're in bad shape. Even against a hand like 66 we're not in good shape at all.So we likely lead out with a continuation bet, and then get raised?With AK, especially suited, I like to get it several ways, knowing that if I hit top pair, I'm likely ahead with the best hand. If I hit two pair, I'm very likely WAY ahead. I like to play larger, multiway pots with AK as opposed to small, heads up pots.The key is being able to release it when it doesn't hit the flop amazingly hard.
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 Anyone who raises 5 pre with less than AA, KK, QQ, JJ, Ak, or at worst AQ just sucks...and if they raise with less than this and bet on the flop if an AK isn't improved its impossible to take the hand away from them unless you have huge balls.Folding AK isn't a bad play....neither is calling or raising.Depends on your style, who you are playing against, etc.There are better places to get your money in than facing a very large rais preflop with AK.
Can you expand? There's one caller in front that would make a raise to 4-5 here standard.If you have 99 here, are you smooth calling if you're the villain? If you have AJ and AQ are you folding or smooth calling and taking this flop 5 handed in an unraised pot?
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Anyone who raises 5 pre with less than AA, KK, QQ, JJ, Ak, or at worst AQ just sucks...and if they raise with less than this and bet on the flop if an AK isn't improved its impossible to take the hand away from them unless you have huge balls.
I would often raise 5 here with 98s, 109s, J10s, 76s, 45s. I think that's a better play than raising with say, QJs.See what I mean?
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Here's why I call, not speaking for TJ, mind you.Because If I raise to 15, let's say. Who's gonna call? KQ? AJ? KJ?
AQ and AJ are calling all day and KQ's fairly likely too. People often think, "oh he's got a pocket pair if he's reraising; my ace is live so I'll play it. Also, if you have a larger stack, small pairs will call for set value and then release the flop when they miss. This turns out to be a huge equity boost for you, as they only hit two times in 17, and when they do, their implied odds consist of one 3/4 pot sized continuation bet.I can't say exactly what the hand range is here for sure, but I know from experience that when I fire a continuation bet against one player on a rag flop after reraising A-K, I get a fold about 75% of the time, and that's playing higher limits than this.The idea that you'll only get called by a mid-to-high pocket pair doesn't really become applicable until about the 10/20 level; applying it to a .50/1 game is just silly.
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The idea that you'll only get called by a mid-to-high pocket pair doesn't really become applicable until about the 10/20 level; applying it to a .50/1 game is just silly.
So' date=' what you're telling me..we need to hope for the following after we make our raise, to make this a profitable play.One; that our villain's are morons, and will call a raise of [b']15x BB [/b]with AJ, AQ or KQ. I still find this hard to believe. I'd never call a 75 dollar raise in 2/5 with AJ or KQ..but, I digress.Two; That they really don't have a mid to high pocket pair, since we've bloated the pot and miss completely 2 out of 3 times.Three; That we hit the flop hard to make this a valuable play against say, 88.Four; That they don't hit a set if they do have said mid-high pocket pair.Five; That the donks don't happen to draw out. KQ vs AK sucks when the flop comes KQ3.Five variables that, when you add them together, make re-raising here a poor play. AK = Way, over, played.I don't see how raising here is +EV.
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